Biafra Civil War Research Paper

The problem with Nigeria is too many truths. You can read twenty papers on how the war started because of oil. Then you can read twenty others proving it was because tribal issues, or others claiming it was a war of religion. There were tribal issues that involved religion that were exasperated by the miss- management of the government that was in control of the income from the Oil production that led to disenchantment with the government that led to war. There is not one simple reason for the Biafra Civil war, there was many causes that led to the disturbance that split Nigeria. When Britan colonized Africa it drew lines on a map that created divisions between ethinc groups that had not been in existence before, put them in groups that …show more content…
In fact many fought on both sides, some like Ken Saro-Wiwa who was executed by Nigerian state who he had fought for. It was hard to tell the Igbo from any other people from the eastern region, but still the north treated everyone in the east as a target. The killing of Igbo was bad, but mainly because they simply had more people living there at the time, but all people living in the east were marked for slaughter. To call the war an “Igbo Affaire” was wrong as Biafra was supposed to be a prototype of a multi-cultural nation. The Goodall report in 1969 stated Biafra had engineered nationalism that transcended tribalism. There seemed to be little reason Biafra, with its 15 million people, could not have founded a sustainable, independent state. Biafrans thought they had their own language and culture, and that they were a Christian community that had been lumped in to Nigeria as a colonial creation. Biafra was also one of the most advanced regions in Africa with maintained roads, schools, hospitals and factories. The argument for an independent state appeared to have the support of the majority of Biafrans. The wishes of the Biafra’s were never a chief concern of British planners; what the Bifrians wanted, or what Nigerians themselves wanted were not a concern. The main concern for England was maintaining the unity of Nigeria for geo-political interests …show more content…
They learned how the powerful treat those weaker than them, and how to cower anyone thought to be a threat, the ends justify the means attitude. Emtiena Exeami in his book, In Biafra Africa Died, the thoughts going on in the Nigerian government. “starvation is a legitimate weapon of war”, Alison Ayida, “The Igbo must be reduced in number”, Lagos policeman, and the worst was the theme song played on the radio Kaduna, “let us go and crush them…pillage their property, rape their women” The Bifrians were no better than the soldiers of the federal government. In his book, The up-County man, Kenneth C. Rylan, tells in his biography about his time spent in Nigeria before and during the war while working for the Motor Transport Office. One story of a simple checkpoint crossing where his driver was ripped out of the car, beaten and Ryland’s life threatened because the driver did not speak Igbo. The driver, Joe, was a Bifran according to the new independent country but was beaten by its soldiers and would have been refused treatment at the hospital because he did not speak Igbo. To Ryland this showed him how Biafra to was born out of hate and revenge. This dehumanization of a fellow man because he is your foe was taught when the white man moved in and took the land, when men and women were taken from their homes and forced into slave